So I'm watching TV the other night and there's a small businessman on the news telling me that Boggo Road 'can’t be run on volunteerism and gold coin donations' (watch it here). And you know what? I agree completely (ignoring the anti-volunteer sentiments).
To put this in context, this was Cameron 'Jack' Sim arguing why (his) small business should be allowed to run the heritage gaol. I have to agree that Boggo Road cannot be run with gold coin donations, but there againit's a moot point because nobody has ever suggested the gaol should be funded by gold coin donations. Certainly not the Boggo Road Gaol Historical Society. Indeed, their recently suggested tour price schedule was as follows:
To put this in context, this was Cameron 'Jack' Sim arguing why (his) small business should be allowed to run the heritage gaol. I have to agree that Boggo Road cannot be run with gold coin donations, but there againit's a moot point because nobody has ever suggested the gaol should be funded by gold coin donations. Certainly not the Boggo Road Gaol Historical Society. Indeed, their recently suggested tour price schedule was as follows:
- Historical day tours - $12/$10
- Historical night tours - $15/$13
- Haunted Cellblock tours - $25/$20
- School groups - $5 per head
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| Above: The BRGHS welcomes you to Boggo Road |
“One of the greatest tourist attractions in Australia... is Port Arthur... and I don't think anyone in Australia doesn't know Port Arthur, and it's run as a commercial operation, and so is Fremantle Gaol too, two of the world's great tourism attractions when it comes to the story of prison history.”Once again, I have to agree. Boggo Road absolutely does need to be run as a commercial operation, and Port Arthur and Fremantle Prison are indeed ‘two of the world's great tourism attractions’. And yes they are commercial operations... 100% managed bynot-for-profit organisations. Port Arthur Historic Site (owned by the Department of Primary Industry, Parks, Water and Environment) is run by the ‘Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority’ (PAHSMA), which is a not-for-profitGovernment Business Enterprisethat employs 150 people. Fremantle Prison is in the WA Housing and Public Works portfolio and managed by the WA Department of Finance. Not a private business in sight.
('Jack' Sim, Radio 4GB, 19 December 2012)
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| Fremantle Prison |
For the record, the BRGHS has never proposed that it should manage the redeveloped Boggo Road site itself. Never. Members of the BRGHS actually want it to be a National Trust of Queensland site, and the National Trust is a large professional organisation that can run things very professionally indeed. Much more professionally than ourselves or a small business ever could. Old Melbourne Gaol, one of the country’s top tourist attractions, is a prime example of how the National Trust can run an old heritage gaol with resounding success, winning a string of the most important national and state heritage tourism awards (in 2010 it won the Australian Tourism award for best heritage and cultural tourism site in the whole country).
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| Old Melbourne Gaol, one of the very best heritage tourism sites in Australia, is run by the National Trust of Victoria. |
Port Arthur, Melbourne and Fremantle are the Big Three of Australia heritage gaols, but there is actually an extensive network of other heritage prison and lock-up sites right around the country, a result of the necessarily solid construction of these buildings. How are these places run? In almost every single case they are publicly-owned and operated along not-for-profit lines. There are some differences on the ground in how they operate, with some sites offering a mix of not-for-profit and private business services, but the state or local governments that own them play a massive role in funding and management.
Maitland Gaol is owned and managed by the Maitland City Council, which employs a number of staff at the site. Old Dubbo Gaol is owned by Dubbo City Council and managed by their Community Services Division. The Adelaide Gaol Museum is owned by the Department of Environment & Heritage and the not-for-profit Adelaide Gaol Preservation Society runs the tours there. Queensland’s Saint Helena Island is controlled by the Departmentof Environment and Resource Management and is home to a range of tourism operations.
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| Old Dubbo Gaol |
All the heritage gaol sites listed below are also operated along not-for-profit lines (or at least they were the last time I checked):
NSW | Cooma Gaol Museum (NSW Department Corrective Services) Hay Gaol Museum (Hay Shire Council) Narrabri Old Gaol Heritage Centre (Narrabri & District Historical Society) Silverton Gaol Museum (Broken Hill Historical Society) Trial Bay Gaol (NSW National Parks and Wildlife/Friends of Trial Bay) Old Wentworth Gaol (Wentworth Shire Council) |
QLD | Normanton Gaol (Normanton Council) Old Croydon Gaol (Croydon Shire Council) St. Helena Island (QLD National Parks & Wildlife) |
NT | Fannie Bay Gaol Museum (National Trust NT) Old Stuart Town Gaol (National Trust NT) |
SA | Redruth Gaol (National Trust SA) |
TAS | Ross Female Factory (TAS Parks & Wildlife) |
TAS | Barracks and Convict Gaol, George Town [also known as Old Watch House Museum] (George Town & District Historical Society) Cascades Female Factory Historic Site (Female Factory Historic Site Ltd Board [not-profit]) Hadspen Gaol (Westbury Historical Society) Old Hobart Gaol [also known as Penitentiary Chapel Historical Site] (TAS National Trust) Richmond Gaol (TAS Parks & Wildlife) |
VIC | Ararat County Gaol [also known as J-Ward Historic Gaol] (Friends of J-Ward) Geelong Heritage Gaol (Rotary Club) |
WA | Albany Convict Gaol (Albany Historical Society Inc.) Derby Police Gaol (Commissioner of Police) Guildford Old Town Gaol (Swan Guildford Historical Society) Old Courthouse and Gaol, Perth(Western Australia Museum) Old Cue Gaol (Shire of Cue) Old Toodyay (or Newcastle) Gaol Museum (Toodyay Shire Council) Roebourne Old Gaol Museum (Shire of Roebourne) |
The only old gaols where private business predominates are special-case examples that could not apply to Boggo Road. Mount Gambier Gaol in South Australia provides backpacker accommodation. In the same State, the Gladstone Gaol used to be a privately-run accommodation centre, but I’m not sure who runs this place now. Several private businesses ran the Old Castlemaine Gaol in Victoria but they all failed, and the site was recently sold off for peanuts by the idiots in the local council in very controversial circumstances.
So the message is clear:The not-for-profit sector kicks serious ass when it comes to running world-class tourism operations in Australian heritage gaols, and such a model would work just as well at Boggo Road. And I'm so glad that a small businessman like Mr Sim wholeheartedly agrees with the BRGHS on this. You know it makes sense.